Women on the Line

Produced at COMMUNITY RADIO 3CR

THIS WEEK

Does Gender Matter Now?

	Producer: Elanor McInerney Broadcast: Friday 14 November 2008 November 18th 2008 is the 100 year anniversary of women's suffrage in Victoria. In that context, speakers at a recent forum in Melbourne addressed the question, ‘Does Gender Still Matter?' Featuring: Maxine Morand, Minister for Women’s Affairs in Victoria. Dr Clare Wright, an historian whose research focuses on women’s underappreciated presence in history. Eve Mahlab, named Australian Business Woman of the Year in 1982. She was an early member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby, and has recently co-founded the Australian Women Donors Network, dedicated to channelling philanthropic funds to projects for women and girls. Tasneem Chopra, chairperson of the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria. Lyn Morgain, the Executive Director of The ALSO Foundation, a philanthropic organisation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex and Queer communities. Lyn highlights that the expectation to be ‘gendered’ has often been a tool of exclusion for those who transgress gender conventions. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
		On the Record: 20 Years of Women's Radio A special project funded by the Victorian Women's Trust and it marks the 20th Anniversary of Women on the Line. Go to projects to download the 8 part series On the Record. CBAA Highly Commended for Best Special Broadcast 2007



	RECENT PAST PROGRAMS

	The F Word Producer: Jaye Hardy Broadcast: Friday 31 October 2008 For many young women there is a stigma attached to the word Feminism. One area where a feminist presence is growing, however, is online. Clem Bastow is the creator of an Australian feminist website, The Dawn Chorus. Also, Monica Dux, co-author of The Great Feminist Denial, responds to the idea that Feminism, if not dead, is at least seriously ill. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Remaking Rwanda Producer: Rachel O'Connell Broadcast: Friday 24 October 2008 Rwanda’s recent history has been of bloodshed and war. In 1994, a civil war involving the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis culminated in a three-month long genocide and the brutal murders of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. During that conflict, much of the country's economic infrastructure was destroyed and social society collapsed, as people from different ethnic groups who had lived as neighbours became bitter enemies. But today, Rwanda is undergoing a remarkable reconstruction - politically, economically and socially. And it is Rwandan women, for the first time in its history, who are taking the lead. Recent elections in Rwanda have returned the world’s first female-dominated government. We’ll hear from Dr Shirley Randell, Senior Adviser in Gender, Governance and Education with the Rwandan-based Dutch Development Organisation. And Annie Kairaba, director of the Rwandan Initiative for Sustainable Development, and a leading advocate for women’s rights, will talk about the new Rwandan society she is helping to build, having returned to her country following the genocide. Rachel O'Connell is a new member of the Women On The Line team. This is her first program. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Palestine: The Economics of Occupation Producer: Elanor McInerney Broadcast: Friday 17 October 2008 Dr Sara Roy is a senior research scholar at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. Since 1985, she has been researching and documenting the Palestinian economy, and the social, political and economic factors undermining Middle East peace. Her most recent book is Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Dr Sara Roy was recently in Australia to deliver the Edward Said Memorial Lecture at Adelaide University. She was also a guest of Australians for Palestine and Women For Palestine, in Melbourne, and spoke at Melbourne University. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	A Human Rights Approach Producer: Maja Graham Broadcast: Friday 10 October 2008 Dr Di Sisely is the current Director of the Australian National Human Rights Education Centre at RMIT in Melbourne. Formerly the Chief Executive of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission she has worked hard at bringing together sometimes hostile industry partners and the advocacy rights perspective. She gave a keynote speech at the recent "Strengthening Disability Advocacy, National Conference" in Melbourne where she spoke about the importance of Human Rights and advocating for them. She argued that we cannot rely on the law to bring about equal human rights for all and proactive moves must be made to bring about general attitudinal changes. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Business, Health and The Responsibility To Protect Producer: Jaye Hardy Broadcast: Friday 3 October 2008 A number of reports have recently been released about women in business, in health and in conflict. Hannah Piterman discusses the implicit barriers to women’s career development and retention in corporate Australia, in her report, The Leadership Challenge: Women in Management. Helen Lobato speaks about the side effects of Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine available to young women in Australia since 2007 through a national immunisation program. Oxfam Australia’s Humanitarian Advocacy Coordinator Steph Cousins explains ‘the responsibility to protect’ principle which seeks to address the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in current conflicts, and the report, For A Safer Tomorrow: Protecting Civilians in a Multi-polar World. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Rethinking Rights and Indigenous Drinking Producer: Elanor McInerney Broadcast: Friday 26 September 2008 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is marking its 60th anniversary this year. Professor Larissa Behrendt, Research Director at the Jumbunna House of Learning at the University of Technology in Sydney, reflects on the Declaration and how its principles need to be better incorporated into Australian domestic law, in particular to prevent rights abuses of Indigenous people. Dr Maggie Brady, from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy at the Australian National University, discusses her research into the social history of Indigenous alcohol consumption. First Taste: How Indigenous Australians Learned About Grog, investigates how Indigenous people learned to drink and challenges common stereotypes about Indigenous Australians and grog. First Taste: How Indigenous Australians Learned About Grog, is a new publication from the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Abortion Decriminalisation: The New Zealand Experience Producer: Elanor McInerney Broadcast: Friday 19 September 2008 Victorian parliament is currently debating abortion law reform. Today's program is an opportunity to listen again to speakers at the "Abortion In Victoria" conference in November 2007. Annarella Hardiman, Dr Jo Wainer, and Professor Jenny Morgan speak about the historically rare opportunity to debate the legal status of abortion in Victoria. And Dr Margaret Sparrow provides a history of the New Zealand experience of abortion law reform. Victoria's Abortion Law Reform Bill 2008 recently passed though the state's Lower House without amendment. The bill will now be debated in the Upper House, where the battle against anti-choice amendments is expected to be more difficult. To be part of the campaign for the passage of the bill, go to the ProChoiceVic website. This program was first broadcast on 7 December 2007. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Stories From The North Producer: Maja Graham Broadcast: Friday 12 September 2008 Barbara Shaw, from Mt Nancy Town Camp in Alice Springs, one of the prescribed areas of the Northern Territory,, talks about the work of the Alice Springs Intervention Rollback Action Group. They have been travelling around the NT helping communities to understand the details and implications of the intervention. After the Convergence on Canberra at the start of the year, another is now planned for the end of September in Alice Springs. Chloe Hooper spoke at a seminar in Melbourne about her new book "The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island". She speaks about the brutal history of the Island and paints the scenario leading up to the death-in-custody of Cameron Doomadgee in 2004. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Women Flourishing In A Changing Environment Producer: Jaye Hardy Broadcast: Friday 5 September 2008 Professor Daniela Stehlik is the Director of the Alcoa Research Centre for Stronger Communities at Curtin University of Technology. She delivered the 10th annual Claire Burton memorial lecture, about how a decade of significant changes in Australia can be considered a positive catalyst for women. She also spoke about how the experiences of rural and regional Australian women can contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges ahead for Australia’s environment, in relation to ongoing drought and climate change. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Germaine Greer "On Rage" Producer: Elanor McInerney Broadcast: Friday 29 August 2008 Germaine Greer delivers the keynote address at the Melbourne Writers Festival, and begins by reflecting on the vituperative media reaction to her 'little book', On Rage. She discusses war, violence, and a range of destructive and self-destructive behaviours - including suicide - and calls for recognition of Indigenous rage, its causes and consequences. Listeners are directed to the 24-hour Lifeline, 13 11 14. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Quebec feminist theatre director, Pol Pelletier Producer: Damaris Baker Broadcast: Friday 22 August 2008 Pol Pelletier, Quebec playwright, actor, theorist and the co-founder of two experimental theatre groups in Montreal, speaks on her concepts of what it takes to be an artist: wildness and courage. In a time where the ideology of force and power dominates, Pol has a passionate vision of theatre and art making a more humane and just world. Damaris Baker is leaving the Women On The Line team. She travelled to Montreal earlier this year, and this program was first broaadcast on June 6, 2008. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Impacts Of Sexual Identity Producer: Maja Graham Broadcast: Friday 15 August 2008 What are the impacts of sexual identity; within the teaching profession and in terms of relationship recognition for same-sex couples? Madelaine Imber, a Master's student at The University of Melbourne, is working on a project titled "Silence, sexuality and teachers: The impact of heteronormativity on teacher's professional practice". She elaborates on what she has discovered so far about the experiences of gay and lesbian teachers. Hayley Conway, Secretary of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, discusses the issues around the Relationship Register in Victoria and the fight for national same-sex relationship recognition. She argues that regardless of whether people support gay marriage or not, all individuals are entitled to that choice. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Migrant Women and Migrant Workers Producer: Jaye Hardy Broadcast: Friday 8 August 2008 Another speaker from the recent Network of Women Students Australia conference, Dr Victoria Achut, discusses some of the misconceptions Australians hold about African migrant women, and some of the difficulties they face once they have relocated here. And Michelle Bisset from the ACTU discusses the problems temporary 457 work visas create for both migrant workers and Australian employers.

	A New Direction for Australia, but read the fine print. Producer: Damaris Baker Broadcast: Friday 1 August 2008 The new Federal Labor Government has brought about a change of direction in many policy areas over the past ten months. We look at changes in immigration policy, the challenge of nuclear policy, and get an update on the Northern Territory Intervention. Eve Leister, the Immigration and Refugee Spokesperson for the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, explores the positive changes in immigration policy coming from the Rudd government and some concerns which remain regarding human rights and accountability in relation to immigration policy and practice. Jessica Morrison, Australian Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons looks at Rudd's proposed International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and other elements of nuclear trade and national policy. Amala Groom, a Sydney Wurudjeri woman from the 'Stop the Intervention' Collective, recently went to the Northern Territory and gives an update on the severe effects of the intervention on rural indigenous townships and communities.

	The Network of Women Students Australia – Feminisms, Past, Present & Future. Producer: Jaye Hardy Broadcast: Friday 25 July 2008 The annual Network of Women Students Australia (NOWSA) conference was recently held in Adelaide. The NOWSA conference brings together students from universities across Australia to celebrate all things female and feminist. The theme for this year's conference was ‘Feminisms: Past, Present and Future, the dirt on the women's movement’. Jo Wilmot from Relationships SA looked towards the ‘future’ in the conference, and spoke about ways in which Indigenous and Non Indigenous Women can work together. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Melbourne’s Drag King Culture Producer: Elanor McInerney Broadcast: Friday 18 July 2008 On today’s program, girls will be boys. We take a look at Melbourne’s Drag King culture. Since 1978 the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives has been collecting and preserving Australia’s queer history. This year, its annual Homosexual Histories Conference was held in Melbourne, where Roberta Foster and Bree Taber presented papers on Melbourne’s Drag King culture, which since June 2000 has centred around a club night called King Victoria. Also in the program, I speak to Selina Jenkins, who has regularly performed at King Victoria as cocky young homeboy Braydon, and sensitive country boy, Beau Heartbreaker. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

	Determination and health: the Northern Territory intervention one year on, and health in West Papua. Producer: Damaris Baker Broadcast: Friday 4 July 2008 Nicole Watson, an indigenous woman from south east Queensland, and a solicitor with the Indigenous School of Learning at the University of Technology in Sydney, speaks of the issues raised by the military aspects of the NT intervention and the lack of recognition of indigenous rights. Paula Makabory, West Papuan activist from the Institute for Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights, speaks about the recent cholera outbreak in West Papua and the lack of action from the Indonesian government and the international community.

	Guam, Japan and U.S Military Bases Producer: Elanor McInerney Broadcast: Friday 27 June 2008 Activists from Okinawa and Guam are united in their opposition to the presence of U.S. military bases on their lands. Maki Yonaha was born in Okinawa and now lives in Australia, where she is a member of the group Japanese For Peace. And Dr. Lisa Natividad is a professor at the University of Guam, and an activist for her people, the indigenous Chamoru. Both women were speakers at a recent activist workshop in Melbourne, “Militarisation: Guam and the Pacific”. Listen or download (right click and save target as)

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